Monday Morning Music Ministry

10-19-26

“Oh! Those poor natives! All those tribes in Central America who don’t know about Jesus! I want to reach them! They need to hear the Gospel!!”

The woman was in a group of faculty and staff at a get-together following a Christian Writers conference. Her wails, unprompted, were loud enough to startle the group.

In her upper middle age, it was plausible that she had been to the region, or had a special connection to ministries there. No, she answered; not yet, but her heart bled for those people. I don’t remember whether she had contributed to missionary organizations that focused on Central American tribal groups – there are many – but she sympathized with the spiritual void in tribal communities, and was moved.

I will leave my recollections there, but her concern is mirrored by many of us – not only for that part of the world; and not only for spiritual needs but in the areas of health, education, clean water, self-determination, and many other realms. “The poor you will always have with you,” and the world is a hurting place. In the West – speaking generally – we have Wants, but much of the world has Needs.

Yet this woman, whom we shall call Cindy, represents a situation and a response that are challenges to us as responsible citizens and obedient Christians.

What I mean is this: Jesus issued the Great Commission – “Go into all the world” – a virtual command: how to respond once we are saved and become children of God. “All the world.” And the exact instruction is to convert them to belief in Christ and baptise them unto redemption from sin.

Specifically: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.

A short passage, but a momentous order. Not a suggestion, but a command.

I want to ask people with a desire that “Cindy” had – and I did in fact ask her – where specifically is this mission field; who are the people needing to be reached. Are they countries? Are they regions or specific tribes? Are they “heathens” or of organized religions different than Christianity? Closer to home, are there spiritually needy people in our country too? In your state, your town, on your street? Do you have neighbors who do not know Christ in even minimal ways?

How about in your own house, your family? Do you have a child or a parent or a sibling who does not know Jesus as Savior?

I’m afraid that most of us do have such a person, or people, close to us. Does that make your neighborhood a mission field? Well, yes. Should we have concern for them as much as many have for faceless tribal people on the other side of the globe? Yes! But… many of us have less concern, in practice. It is somehow easier to care for someone in an abstract way than face-to-face, maybe day after day. Human nature.

When Jesus issued the Great Commission, it was shortly before His crucifixion, almost like His last will and testament. The timing was important. In essence: go, teach, preach, convert to obedience. No mention, then or from the Cross itself, to start committees, join organizations, perform works of charity, or become a member of a denomination, or the like.

Now, I hasten to say that being a missionary, or supporting missionaries, are not mistaken paths for Christians. No! Some of my dearest friends engage in missions work, self-sacrificing, serving and ministering to bodies and souls. Beautiful, precious work – yes, obeying the Great Commission. Why I raise these questions, however, is to “take our temperature,” to pray about motivations, commitments, and goals.

God cares about our comfortable Christian souls in the West as much as the “lost” in remote places of the world. We often assume (or are casual about) the Truth; and meanwhile the unreached thirst for it. They might be a step closer to Glory! A monthly stewardship pledge is a vital thing, no doubt at all about it, but not as a substitute for caring for lost souls as Jesus described.

There is a soporific effect that Christians must avoid: believing (or being taught!) that “things” can diminish Jesus’s Great Commission or substitute for the Gospel itself. Denominationalism; church membership; attendance; offerings; committees; the “Social Gospel”; the lies of contemporary secular life.

Back to the other end of the spectrum. Is “Cindy,” or anyone else crying about the missions field from a suburban back porch, a hypocrite for? Not at all, if her heart really bled for the lost. As St Augustine said about Jesus’ reference to “the poor always being with us,” God is as concerned about the sense of Christian charity we each nurture, as much as the condition of people far away: we are all equal in the sight of God.

We also have been reminded that not all are pastors, teachers, apostles, prophets, etc., and some special servants are missions-minded. Thank God. But they and the Holy Spirit – with our prayers and support! – will do their vital work… just as we need to find our own vital work in our towns, streets, and homes.

We often wonder whether God hears us when we pray. But I wonder instead whether God is grieved when we don’t hear Him. His commandments, His gentle pleading, His loving call. Whether to be a missionary – and what kind – is not determined by a cookie-cutter process, but through deep prayer and with an open heart. The best example I know is the life of one of my heroes, Becky Spencer, singer, songwriter, missionary, author, warrior. Please click on this interview with her on the Colson Podcast a few years ago – her journey, her choices, her journey.

And ask yourself: What IS the mission field?

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Click: We’ve a Story To Tell the Nations